News — art struggles

Once again, I actually accomplished quite a lot since last week's writing, but it's hard to remember it all today. I've slept since then so I've forgotten everything! On Sunday I finally--FINALLY!--took the mat cutter out of the box it's been in for over 6 months, put it together, practiced with scrap mat, and used it to make my very first custom mat! It was quite a process! Despite using the written instructions and watching tutorial videos, I got frustrated at multiple points. And there's more math than I was expecting, for calculating where to cut. I'm not convinced yet...

Ya know, I'm starting to think doing these on Friday isn't such a hot idea after all. (Catch up on last week here.) By Friday I'm totally pooped from working all week, and so my art drive has fallen off a cliff and has tainted my whole view of the past week. Because really, on Monday & Tuesday this week I felt on fire!  I felt really good about some of the work I was doing early this week. I was on a roll! At one point I literally thought to myself that it was going amazingly well but I...

So how did the last week of watercolor painting go? As with last week, it's a resounding "just fine." I am well and truly out of my slump from the holidays, and I am painting consistently. The week was disappointing in other ways--I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear my "real job" is still agonizingly boring. It's a very "feast or famine" type of workflow, and I'm in an unusually long drought. I've spent a lot more time and energy looking for a new job this week but it's super discouraging, time-consuming, and tiring.  I've kept my #100daysproject going...

I'm feeling pretty ok with how this past week has gone, at least when it comes to art. I did a decent job sticking with my goals from last week's post. (Last time here.) I haven't missed a day of the 100 Days Project yet, and I stuck with my commitment to focus on fun in my painting, which legitimately took some of the pressure off.  I always start the week off with a bang, spending a good amount of time in the studio on Saturdays. Sundays get harder, because I get pretty down with the "Sunday sads"--the thing where you...

The wheel turns, and despite feeling pretty optimistic last week, I felt adrift this week again, and didn't get a ton of painting done. Catch up on last week here. When I say I didn't get a ton of painting done, I mean I got nothing done that I could use for any shows or sales. I also didn't paint in many large blocks like I often do when I'm really in a good head space. I started the 100 Days Project last week, and I kept it up so I painted every day. But most days that was all...